My aim is to offer insights into some of the more subtle principles underpinning prints. The commentary is based on thirty-eight years of teaching and the prints and other collectables that I am focusing on are those which I have acquired over the years.
In the galleries of prints (accessed by clicking the links immediately below) I am also adding fresh images offered for sale. If you get lost in the maze of links, simply click the "home" button to return to the blog discussions.

Condition: well-inked
and well-printed crisp impression trimmed along the oval image borderline and
laid upon a conservator’s support sheet; otherwise the print is in near
pristine condition.

I am selling
this small and finely executed print executed in 1561 for the total cost
of AU$162 (currently US$120.05/EUR109.93/GBP93.15 at the time of posting this
listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are
interested in purchasing this small masterpiece that was one of the first
prints that Delaune engraved, please contact me
(oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make
the payment easy.

This print has been sold

Executed in 1561
when Delune had reached the noble age of 43, this print is one of his first
engravings. Despite its milestone status in his oeuvre, it is
far from the work of a novice. Note, for instance, the highly stylised treatment
of foliage shown on the closest tree on the left where the foliage mass in the
front is rendered in light tones set against the dark mass of foliage behind
it. Such understanding of the early convention of representing trees reveals
training … and it’s true! Delune was already a seasoned draughtsman by this
time and had even been employed by the Royal Mint to make designs for
medallions. I should be honest, however, and point out that he was not in that
job for long as he quit after only six months over a pay dispute.

From my
standpoint, Delaune’s career as a medallion designer for the Royal Mint as well
as working on the FrenchKing Henry II’s royal commissions to create designs for parade armour is fairly
evident in this print’s composition and approach to portraying spatial depth.
What I mean by this is that although he has employed the traditional approach
of suggesting depth using a meandering road leading into the distance, the
composition is not dependent on this visual device. Instead, Delaune adopted
the pictorially flattened space of armour decoration and stacks his portrayed subjects
on top of one another as if looking at them from an elevated bird’s eye view while
simultaneous seeing their details at eye-level.